Thursday 1 April 2010 07.46 EDT
First published on Thursday 1 April 2010 07.46 EDT

Eight months since we reported that an initiative to promote the production of concrete sanitation platforms (sanplats) was stalling because of poor sales, it appears there is still very little progress being made. Masons trained by the African Medical and Research Foundation (Amref) to make the concrete slabs report that they have all but stopped production because community members have failed to buy their products.

At the start of the Katine project, very few homes had latrines. Latrine coverage has since improved from 7% of the sub-county to 39% after the community were told about the health benefits of pit latrines and given tools for digging them. The community has been encouraged to use concrete platforms, as opposed to logs, because they are more durable and easier to clean. Messy logs are an easy source of infection.

At the outset of this initiative to produce sanplats in 2008, Amref trained masons and gave them the raw materials, like cement, sand, aggregate and wire mesh, to make them. It was hoped that the slabs could be sold to the community for UShs 7,000 (about $3.50) each, with UShs 2,000 going to the masons as a lunch allowance and the balance used by them to build up their own capital so they can afford their own materials and wouldn't be reliant on Amref.

The UShs 7,000 price tag was heavily subsidised to encourage the community to buy the slabs. On the open market, a sanplat can cost twice as much.

The problem selling the sanplats illustrates the challenges of promoting modern sanitation facilities in a rural area like Katine. But it also resurrects the question of how much the Katine community is willing to contribute to Amref's work, and how sustainable the current initiatives will be when Amref leaves the sub-county in 2011.

Following our article in August, Amref suggested, in its annual report, published in January, that the problem regarding sanplat sales had been resolved. But a visit to some of the masons involved finds that the report was overly optimistic. Last year, for example, we visited Michael Ekodu, a 19-year-old who had hoped to make a living making the slabs. He and three colleagues had made 30 pieces, but had not sold any. In the last eight months, he has sold only two pieces.

"But even those two pieces were taken by two village health team members (VHTs) and I have not yet seen the money. They promised to pay but they have never paid," Ekodu said last week, with an air of disappointment.

Also disappointed is Richard Ejemu, from Katine parish. He says since we talked to him last year, his group has not sold any of their 58 sanplats.

In Ochuloi parish, two masons made 56 sanplats, but only seven have been bought. According to John Olela, chairman of the parish development committee, the work stopped last year because of the low sales.

In Ojama parish, the masons made only 19 sanplats before they stopped working because they had no sales. However, according to Patrick Okodo, the chairman of the parish sanitation committee, 15 pieces have since been sold.

"The masons stopped work because community members were not buying the sanplats," Okodo said. "Fortunately, other people from other areas have bought them one by one and now we have only four left."

There was more successful in Ojom parish, where masons sold more than half of their sanplats. They made 118 pieces and by the end of March, 65 had been sold."At first we realised that the sales were very poor and we talked to people from other areas and they are the ones who have bought many of them," said Simon Echolu, a mobiliser on the parish sanitation committee.

No local interest

Okodo lamented that – like in Ojom – members of his own community had failed to embrace the idea of buying sanplats. Because of the lukewarm response from the community, the masons had to give up. And yet the materials like cement and sand are still available. He hopes the remaining four pieces will be bought soon so that he can pay the masons their money and interest them in making some more. But he is not very optimistic.

"See when Amref was coming, the people thought everything would be provided for free," Okodo said. "In fact, some of them were accusing us of fraud – that Amref had given the sanplats for free and we were only trying to extort money from them. Our people here just want free things."

This view was shared by John Olela, from Ochuloi parish, where barely 13% of the sanplats have been sold. "The price of UShs 7,000 was not a lot of money," Olela said. "But Amref, being a project which has assisted many people, our people just want free things."

This insistence on "free things" challenges the foundations on which the sustainability of some of Amref's work in Katine is premised. As Olela, born and raised in Katine, says, the price was not prohibitive: people are just not prepared to spend money on the sanplats. But they would be happy to be given them. So, what will happen when the "giver" is removed from the equation?

Another example of the danger of this "recipient mentality" is to be found in our story this week about a strike by village health team (VHT) volunteers. My fear about the enthusiasm for much of Amref's "capacity building" work in Katine has been the issue of motivation. Do people turn up for training because they are very keen on the message, or are they only interested in the message if the training comes with something – a "transport" refund worth about $2.50 per day?

VHTs have consistently told me that they were very happy to work as volunteers and that they would continue working even without pay when Amref's project ends. But when Amref abolished the transport refund recently, the volunteers decided to strike. What this tells you is that a community healthcare system premised on unpaid volunteers survives only precariously and under certain circumstances – such as when an NGO provides something in return. Something similar could be said for the sanplats venture. Both of which raise questions about Katine's future.